Fallout
by EternallyEC
Summary: When everyone’s phones went off at the same time, it always bode ill for someone and in this case, Dan Humphrey knew that someone was him. Dan’s thoughts during 2x15 and what could have happened if V caught him at the gallery/coffee shop before he left.


**Disclaimer: **I own nothing and am making no profit from this story. Everything _Gossip Girl_ belongs to Cecily von Ziegesar, the CW and the god is that Josh Schwartz.

**Summary: **_When everyone's phones went off at the same time, it always bode ill for someone and in this case, Dan Humphrey knew that someone was him._ A look into Dan's mind during 2x15 and what could have happened had Vanessa caught him at the gallery/coffee shop before he left.

**Timeline: **Set during the middle-ish part of 2x15

**Characters: **Dan Humphrey; Vanessa Abrams; Nate Archibald; Serena and Eric vdW and Jenny Humphrey mentioned.

**Author's Note: **Okay, so I was re-watching _Gone with the Will _because for some reason that I've forgotten now I didn't watch it too closely the first time it aired and I couldn't remember the part from the promo (the "She'd never touch you" exchange between Jack and Chuck) being on there (which incidentally it was not—what the hell?) and I had this idea.

See, I've had the first line of this story in my head all night in some version or another, so when all those cell phones went off and the looks started… I knew I finally had the perfect fic to use it in.

**Title: **Fallout

When everyone's phones went off at the same time, it always bode ill for someone and in this case, Dan Humphrey knew that someone was him. Gossip Girl had put out a hit on him a couple of days before and a blast now, in the middle of an important social event, could only mean one thing—she'd hit pay dirt.

Sure enough, almost as soon as the phones were opened people started staring at him in disgust. Not having a clue as to what they could have possibly found out and assuming it was probably a misunderstanding, he semi-jokingly joked with Serena, "What now people? It's not like I brought a tuna sandwich."

Serena pulled out her phone and as he read the blast over his shoulder, Dan suddenly understood what the expression 'his blood ran cold' meant. There was no way that Gossip Girl could know about the baby that he himself had only found out about days earlier. But he knew that wasn't his biggest problem and as he saw the look on Serena's face he realized that he had some explaining to do.

Serena told him that she needed time alone, Jenny and Eric went off to deal with the new revelation in their own way, and Dan was left alone. He'd been alone a lot more lately than he had been in a while and it bothered him a lot more than it once had.

And so he went to see his oldest friend, the one that he knew would be there for him no matter what happened—Vanessa. It was his luck that she was nowhere to be seen when he showed up, but he did have a pleasant conversation with Nate, who apologized for all the Jenny drama. They actually had a small heart-to-heart talk before Dan remembered that it was Vanessa and Nate's anniversary and decided to bow out so that they could enjoy it.

Just as he was about to walk out the door, Vanessa came out and spotted him. "Dan," she said with a forced smile. Sending Nate a real one, she said, "Excuse us for a sec," and steered Dan out the door. "Humphrey, why haven't you been answering my texts?"

"Uh, because I lost my phone yesterday," Dan replied in confusion. "Why? What have you been texting me?" Horror and comprehension slowly dawned on him as he realized what must have happened.

His suspicions were confirmed when Vanessa spoke again. "It was about the…"

"The sibling Serena and I share? Yeah, everybody knows now—Gossip Girl did a blast about it right in the middle of the Chuck Bass brunch. And now I guess I know how they know—someone stole my phone in the search for dirt."

"And I put it right in their hands," Vanessa said, looking up at the sky and blinking back tears. "Dan, I am so sorry."

"Hey, it's not your fault. You didn't know, and you weren't the one behind this whole thing in the first place." He embraced her, sighing heavily. That was one mystery solved anyway.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we'd better be going," Nate said apologetically as Vanessa pulled away and gave him a weak smile. "What's going on?"

"Well, apparently somebody stole my phone trying to dig up dirt on me…"

"And I gave it to them," Vanessa said.

"What do you mean?"

"I texted Dan and asked him when his dad and Lily would be back because Serena needed to know about their child," she revealed, rolling her eyes to keep more tears from escaping.

"Hey, it's not your fault," Nate echoed Dan's sentiments.

"I already tried to tell her that. You know how stubborn she is."

Nate laughed and kissed her. "Yeah, I know. We'd really better be going now though—you ready?"

"Yeah, let's go."

"We'll talk more about how this is not even remotely your fault on the way there," he told her, smiling at Dan. "See you later man."

"Later." Dan watched them go and wondered why some people had it so easy and others (like he and Serena) had obstacle after obstacle strewn along the path… or thrown there.

~~FIN


End file.
